Renaud Lavillenie broke the Hayward Field record by a half-inch in the men’s pole vault with 19 feet, 10 1/4 inches (6.05 meters) in the 41st Prefontaine Classic on Saturday. The jump is also an outdoor personal best, the same height as his indoor world record.
He attempted the outdoor world record at 20-2 1/2 (6.16 meters), but failed in all three attempts.
“It’s just the beginning of the season,” he said. “I have a lot of work to do.”
Lavillenie was 10 inches ahead of the rest of the field; second-place Sam Kendricks and third-place Raphael Holzdeppe both cleared 19 feet 1/4 inch. Holzdeppe had one more miss at the last height than Kendricks.
Lavillenie did not enter the competition until the 18-8 1/4 height. He failed the first two attempts and barely cleared the bar in the third. But he passed on the next height, just over 19 feet, and re-entered the competition at 19-2 3/4, which he cleared on the second try.
He passed again at the next height before re-entering the competition at 19-6 1/2, where he cleared the distance on his first attempt.
Lavillenie leaped off the mat when it was clear he had won. He cleared the bar and clapped his hands, forming a cloud of chalk dust, and smiled.
Lavillenie had only three pole vault-specific training sessions before the event due to an injury and had said earlier he wouldn’t be competing at 100 percent. Despite the injury, he was still able to set a new record — and to do a backflip to celebrate one of his jumps.
His brother, Valentin Lavillenie, set a new PR of 18-8 1/4.
